On Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, the Penguins, seeking to build on their recent win after a four-game losing streak, secured a victory over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights, who themselves were aiming to recover from a previous loss after a four-game winning streak, resulting in a second straight win for the home team and a second straight loss for Vegas. Erik Karlsson sealed the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime victory with a decisive game-winning goal, silencing the Golden Knights. Sidney Crosby’s two goals against Vegas, following his pair against Minnesota, cemented his four-goal streak in two games. Tristan Jarry, back from his AHL stint, delivered another solid performance in net, reinforcing his steadiness for the Penguins in his second consecutive game. The Penguins host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, while the Golden Knights head to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets.
Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:
Rakell – Crosby – Rust
Dewar – Malkin – Tomasino
Heinen – Hayes – Bemstrom
Imama – Lizotte – Acciari
Kolyachonok – Letang
Grzelcyk – Karlsson
Graves – Timmins
Jarry
Nedeljkovic
Vegas Golden Knights Lineup:
Olofsson – Eichel – Stone
Saad – Hertl – Dorofeyev
Smith – Roy – Kolesar
Pearson – Schmidt – Rondbjerg
Hague – Pietrangelo
Hanifin – Whitecloud
McNabb – Korczak
Samsonov
Hill
Sidney Crosby opened the scoring with a power-play goal late in the first period at 2:12, putting the Penguins ahead 1-0 when Kevin Hayes carried the puck around behind the net from the left corner, heading over to the right boards, and then passed it off to Rickard Rakell, who was in the right circle. He found Crosby, who took the pass from just above the crease and dropped to one knee, chipping it in.
The Penguins captain struck again, scoring his 23rd of the season and his fourth in the past two games to make it 2-0. Crosby drifted into the right circle, firing a wrister through Ilya Samsonov’s five-hole after getting the puck from Rickard Rakell at the right boards, and stepped away from traffic at 16:58 of the second. Pavel Dorofeyev cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal for his 25th goal of the season later on into the middle frame at 5:31 when he was set up by Noah Hanifin to put a one-timer past Tristan Jarry from the right circle.
With an empty Vegas net and just seconds left to play in regulation, Noah Hanifin was set up by Mark Stone for a one-timer from above the right circle to knot it up 2-2 for his second point of the night and to get the game into overtime.
Erik Karlsson put home his ninth goal of the season just 49 seconds into overtime when Evgeni Malkin got ahold of the puck, carrying it around the Golden Knights’ zone before dropping it for Karlsson, who was charging into the right face-off circle, scoring on a wrist shot for the 3-2 final.
Erik Karlsson on his game-winning goal and Jarry: “Tanger made a great change, Geno drove down, two guys followed him, and I just jumped on the ice and had an opportunity. I didn’t have many other options. Usually, I look for a pass first, but I couldn’t see anything out there, so I decided to shoot. Luckily, I hit the spot I wanted,” – “He’s a great person. He works extremely hard at his game, and he hasn’t had the best of luck as of lately. I think over the course of his career, he’s shown that he’s a good goaltender in this league. He’s had a little bit of a bump on the road. It’s nice to see him coming in. He hasn’t changed one bit, which is awesome to see. It’s easy to get down on yourself, but he’s coming in here and he believes in himself.”
Sidney Crosby on his line, Jarry and defense, and the team’s performance recently: “I think just as a line, we were creating some chances… We were just opportunistic, good on pucks, and got chances because of it. …He made some big saves and he’s a big reason why we were about to pull it out… He definitely looks confident… The guys are trying to do their best in front of him, so they made some big blocks throughout the night too, which hopefully helps and gives him a little bit more confidence,” – “That’s the kind of effort we need to have. It’s not always going to be pretty, but I think as long as we stick together, play as a group, and do our best to give ourselves a chance every night, compete, and do all of those little things – I think we’ll be better.”
Tristan Jarry on support from fans, how he feels currently compared to January, and how he can continue to keep playing great: “It’s cool. Obviously, I’ve been here for a long time now, so any time you can have that support by the fans and they’re behind you, I think that brings a lot of confidence to me. When they’re standing behind me, it really helps. I think that was another showing tonight for it,” – “It was a tough time for me. It was something that I had to work through, and I think it was something that I needed to look at myself in the mirror and just say, I need to have a better game. Just going down there, working hard, and working on my game, I think was a big help for me. – Over the time that I’ve been playing in the NHL, I think I’ve played a lot of good hockey and I want to continue that. I think just keeping it going, making sure my practices are sharp, making sure my mental game is sharp – It helps me a lot.”
Game Notes:
– Tristan Jarry made a total of 35 saves for Pittsburgh.
– Rickard Rakell had a two-point night, picking up a pair of assists.
– With his game-opening goal, Sidney Crosby now matches Joe Sakic (117) for the sixth-most game-opening goals in NHL history. They sit behind Alex Ovechkin (147), Jaromir Jagr (135), Brett Hull (131), Gordie Howe (127), and Teemu Selanne (119). …After scoring his second of the night, he has recorded a multi-goal game against 31 different franchises marking the most among all players in NHL history. The only teams he has yet to do so are both the Utah Hockey Club and Pittsburgh. …This was his 105th multi-goal game, making him second among active players behind Ovechkin (178).
– Crosby scored twice on the Penguins’ first six shots on goal.
– Both Ryan Shea and Tommy Novak did not play for the Penguins. Shea is week-to-week due to an upper-body injury, and Novak is day-to-day due to a lower-body injury.
– PGH: 26-31-10, VGK: 38-19-7
– Noah Hanifin and Pavel Dorofeyev each recorded a goal and an assist.
– Ilya Samsonov made a total of 14 saves for Vegas.
– Jack Eichel, who recorded an assist, tied the Vegas Golden Knights record for points in a season at 78 (20 goals, 58 assists). In Vegas’ inaugural season of 2017-18, William Karlsson set the mark.
– Vegas’ four tying goals in the final 10 seconds of the third period since their inaugural season are the second-most in the NHL during that span, sitting behind the San Jose Sharks (five).
ITR 45: Everything Is Happening – Inside The Rink
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